Wildcats can’t look beyond William & Mary

Friday

Nov 2, 2012 at 3:15 AM

By Al Pikeapike@fosters.com

DURHAM — For the University of New Hampshire football team to get where it wants to go, it must do something Saturday it hasn’t done in 14 years and never in nine tries under coach Sean McDonnell: beat William & Mary.

The Wildcats are 2-13 overall against the Tribe and 0-9 under McDonnell. They haven’t beaten William & Mary since 1998.

The Tribe is also the last team to defeat UNH at Cowell Stadium where the Wildcats are 21-1 in their 22 games and have won nine straight.

“We’re always seven or 10 points away from them,” McDonnell said. “We could never close the deal in the second half. They’ve done a great job hanging on to the football and they’ve done a great job stopping us when they needed to stop us.”

UNH hosts William & Mary today at noon. The No. 11 Wildcats are 7-2 overall and 5-1 in the Colonial Athletic Association.

“This is a big game because it’s the next one,” said junior defensive tackle Sean McCann, “but it’s also a big game because we haven’t beaten those guys.”

“I don’t think what’s happened in the past has much effect on this year,” said sophomore wideout Jimmy Giansante. “It would be nice to beat them. It hasn’t happened in a while, but we’re not going in with the mentality that we haven’t beaten them in a long time.”

The Tribe is 2-6 and 1-4 in the CAA, but four of those losses have been by a combined eight points, including one-point setbacks to Maryland and James Madison.

“It isn’t a 2-6 football team in our eyes,” McDonnell said. “What concerns me the most is that they wake up and get everything together.”

UNH is looking for its sixth straight win and is coming off a 40-20 victory at Rhode Island.

The Tribe dropped a 24-10 decision to Maine at home last Saturday.

The Wildcats fell by the same score to William & Mary last season in Williamsburg, Va., despite 517 yards of total offense.

They also committed four turnovers, and defensively surrendered three touchdowns of 50 yards or more.

“We have to tackle in the run game and in open spaces,” McDonnell said, “and offensively we have to finish drives this year if we want to be successful.”

Despite the record, the Tribe won’t be a pushover. They’re second in the CAA in pass defense, third in total defense and fourth in fewest points allowed.

They’re also second in the league in rushing.

“They’re a very similar team to what they were last year,” McCann. “They have a good offensive line and a good running back in (Keith) McBride they’re going to try to run the ball with. That’s our main concern, stopping the run this week.”

By winning its last two games, UNH can do no worse than a share for the CAA title. The Wildcats, however, hope to win it outright for the first time.

“We have the ability to win it all,” Giansante said. “We’re definitely aware of it. We’re taking these next two (games) seriously because we have the opportunity to win the CAA outright.”

The Wildcats are off next week, then close out the regular season on Nov. 17 at home against Towson.

“Nobody’s putting their head in the sand around here,” McDonnell said. “Now we have to take advantage of what we did in October. All the hard work we’ve done for the eight weeks leading up to this won’t mean anything if you don’t finish this deal.”

UNH currently leads the CAA with a 5-1 mark. The only blemish is a 64-61 loss to Old Dominion, which rallied from a 23-point deficit in the second half.

“We’ve done a good job of getting ourselves in a good position to do what no other UNH team has done before,” McCann said. “That’s really our goal right now, to be a conference champion, get into the playoffs and go from there.”

“I haven’t even thought about (that playoffs),” McDonnell said. “I just know if we keep taking care of business something good will come our way.”